Vladimir Putin: The undisputed master of eccentric, macho photo ops

Whether he's harpooning whales or tranquilizing polar bears, the Russian president is well-known for playing the tough guy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin peers out from behind the glass of the Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe before descending into the water to visit the wreckage of the Oleg frigate, a Russian ship that sunk in 1869 near the isle of Gogland in the Gulf of Finland.

It was later revealed by environmentalists and bloggers to be a disastrous public relations stunt. The rare tiger — a female named Serga who lived at a zoo several hundred miles away from the nature reserve — died from over-tranquilization within days of the stunt.

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Photo: Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin rides a horse shirtless while on vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in southern Siberia.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin wrestles around in the snow with his dogs Buffy (right) and Yume at his residence Novo-Ogariovo, located just outside of Moscow.

Buffy is a Bulgarian shepherd dog given to Putin in 2010 by then Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. Yume was a gift from Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda during the 2012 G20 summit in Mexico.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin practices his butterfly stroke in a river while on vacation near Kyzyl.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin sits in a motorized hand glider and observes a crane at a conservation center near the River Ob in the Jamalo-Nentsky region of northern Siberia. The glider is used to help the cranes learn their migratory route.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin aims an arbalest at a whale in hopes of taking a piece of its skin for analysis off the coast of Olga Bay near Nakhodka, a city in Russia's Primorsky Krai state located north of Japan.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin, decked out in heavy winter gear, pets a horse while on a ride near Abakan, the capital city of the southern Siberian state of Khakassia.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

A shirtless (yes, it's a theme) Putin wields a large hunting rifle while visiting the Mongolian-bordered town of Tuva, Siberia.

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Photo: Alexey Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images

A polar bear is examined by Putin and a team of scientists on Alexandra Land, an island that is part of the Franz Josef archipalego in the Arctic Ocean.

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Photo: Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Getty Images

Putin casts a fishing line into the headwaters of the Yenisei River near Tuva.

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Photo:Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Putin feeds a fish to a Beluga whale named Dasha on Chkalov Island, located 700 km away from the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk.